There was a stretch in the second quarter of Monday’s matchup between the West’s two behemoths—the San Antonio Spurs and Oklahoma City Thunder—that lent a not-so-fast air to the notion that Oklahoma City remains the favorite to return to the NBA Finals in June.

After a first quarter in which the Spurs had been drubbed by the Thunder, who got little resistance from San Antonio’s defense in the early going, OKC was staked to a 38-26 lead with 9:49 to go in the second and, with Spurs star Tony Parker on the bench, the Thunder were poised to run away with a game that would put them into a tie for the top seed in the conference.

Kawhi Leonard is integral to the Spurs' defense end, but it is his improved offensive production that could provide a slight edge over the Thunder. (AP Photo)

But then big man Tiago Splitter set a high pick for guard Manu Ginobili, and did what he does best—rolled hard to the basket, finding an open spot where he could take a pass from Ginobili and finagle a layup and a foul on the Thunder’s Nick Collison.

On the Spurs’ next possession, with time on the shot clock running down, Splitter was trapped on the baseline following a pass from Gary Neal, but managed to tiptoe under the basket and convert a nifty reverse layup.

After back-to-back 3s by Danny Green, Splitter had the ball in the post when the man defending Spurs forward Kawhi Leonard—Derek Fisher—popped into the post to give double-team help on Splitter.

Leonard curled into the corner and, immediately, Splitter recognized the double, feeding Leonard for an open 3 (thanks in part to Tim Duncan’s pick on the recovering Fisher) that Leonard drained.

The next time down, Leonard took a pass from Neal beyond the 3-point line, threw Russell Westbrook off with a quick ball fake, and drove to the right elbow, where he easily knocked down a jumper. That tied the score and propelled the Spurs to a crucial 105-93 win.

Should San Antonio, as the assumption goes, wind up facing the Thunder in the conference finals this spring, they’re going to need some weapons they did not have last year, when Oklahoma City closed out the shell-shocked Spurs with four straight wins to punch its ticket to the Finals.

The Spurs don’t have any significant new additions on hand—they’re still built around the Parker-Duncan-Ginobili triumvirate—so what they’ll need in order to top the Thunder this time around is improvement from within.

And that should come from Splitter and Leonard.

Splitter was a force Monday night, scoring 21 points with 10 rebounds and three assists. Overall, Splitter has done much the same this season as he did last season, only he is doing it with more playing time and more confidence from his teammates.

He doesn’t kid himself into thinking he can knock down bank shots like Duncan (Splitter has taken just eight shots from a distance greater than eight feet all year), but rather focuses on what he is—one of the best pick-and-roll finishers in the game. Splitter averages 1.340 points per possession when the Spurs run pick-and-rolls for him, second only to the Knicks’ Tyson Chandler (1.345 points) among players with more than 100 chances.

Splitter was outstanding on pick-and-rolls last year, too, but when it came time to face the Thunder, he was useless, his confidence utterly sapped by a sudden inability to hit free throws.

He scored a total of 23 points in the six games against Oklahoma City in last year’s Western finals, and played just 53 minutes—including only 39 seconds in the series finale.

After the game, Splitter shrugged off the significance of his performance against Oklahoma City relative to how he handled the playoff series last year.

“I think nobody played well in those games,” he said. “I was one of them who didn’t play well. You feel better after (Monday’s game), you want to play well against these kinds of teams, playoff teams.”

Leonard, on the other hand, did play fairly well against the Thunder in the playoffs last year, though he had trouble with consistency—he scored 18 and 17 points in two of the games, but scored a total of 18 in the other four.

Part of the trick with Leonard, now in his second season, has been convincing him that he is not just the Spurs’ perimeter defensive stopper, but that San Antonio needs him to score, too.

Going back to a 26-point performance Feb. 11 against the Bulls, Leonard has done just that, hitting double figures in 11 straight games, including 17 against Oklahoma City. Since Jan. 30, Leonard is averaging 15.1 points on 50.6 percent shooting.

While Leonard is still an ace when it comes to corner 3s, what has been most encouraging about his offensive game lately is what he showed on that ball fake he put on Westbrook—his ability to make midrange jumpers.

He shot 34.9 percent on attempts from 10-16 feet last year, and 35.6 percent from 16 feet out to the 3-point line. This year he is up to a sterling 48.7 percent from 10-16 feet and 48.8 percent from 16 feet and out.

When there are stars like Duncan, Parker, Ginobili, Westbrook and Kevin Durant around, the minor things like Splitter’s confidence and Leonard’s midrange game are easy to lose in the shuffle. But on Monday night it was obvious that both of those developments could give the Spurs a leg up in a playoff series.